Add Andrew Cuomo of New York to the list of east-coast governors who are willing to acknowledge reality when they wake up and discover that half the Grand Banks has decided to pay a visit inland.

"There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. That is not a political statement, that is a factual statement ... Anyone who says there's not a dramatic change in weather patterns, I think is denying reality," Cuomo said.

And, of course, there is nothing new about any of this.

"Sea level rise and coastal flooding from storm surge are already affecting and will increasingly affect New York's entire ocean and estuarine coastline from Montauk Point to the Battery and up the Hudson River to the federal dam at Troy," the report stated. "The likelihood that powerful storms will hit New York State's coastline is very high, as is the associated threat to human life and coastal infrastructure. This vulnerability will increase in area and magnitude over time." Few recommendations of the little noticed report appear to have been enacted. (Ed. Note: Unpossible!) "We have a new reality when it comes to these weather patterns. We have an old infrastructure and we have old systems, and that is not a good combination. And that's one of the lessons I'm going to take from this, personally."

Cuomo's talking about maybe building levees around lower Manhattan so, plainly, he'd been thinking about this for a while before the storm hit. Maybe we should have discussed this climate-change business during one of the debates. Maybe this little japery down in Tampa wasn't as funny as everybody thought it was.

In his acceptance speech on Thursday, Romney said, "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans (pause for mocking laughter) and heal the planet. MY promise is to help you and your family."